History: Brooklyn Dodgers sign Jackie Robinson

On October 23, 1945, the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, signed Jackie Robinson to a minor league contract that would be the beginning of breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier. Robinson played initially for the Dodgers' farm team, the Montreal Royals.(Photo: Hulton Archive Getty Images)

October 23, 1945: Jackie Robinson and pitcher John Wright were signed by Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers Baseball Club, to play on a Dodger farm team, the Montreal Royals of the International League. Robinson went on to become the first African-American baseball player to play on a major league team.

October 23, 1947: The NAACP filed formal charges with the United Nations, accusing the U.S. of racial discrimination. “An Appeal to the World,” edited by W.E.B. DuBois, was a study of the denial of the right to vote that included details of other discrimination. This spurred President Harry Truman to create a civil rights commission.

October 24, 1935: Langston Hughes’ first play, Mulatto, opened on Broadway. It was the longest-running play (373 performances) by an African-American writer until Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun premiered in 1959.

October 25, 1940: Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first African American promoted to Brigadier General in the U.S. Army. He later served with the European Theater of Operation. President Harry S. Truman presided at his retirement ceremony after 50 years of service. Davis died in 1970.

October 26, 1911: Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson was born in New Orleans. After moving to Chicago, she became one of the first singers to move gospel music from the church to the mainstream, attracting white audiences and selling millions. She became a voice, too, for the civil rights movement. She sang at the 1963 March on Washington, the 1965 Selma march and at many rallies for Martin Luther King Jr. “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” was King’s favorite, and she sang it at his funeral. When she died four years later, Aretha Franklin sang the song at her funeral. In 1997, Jackson was inducted posthumously into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

October 27, 1924: Actress Ruby Dee was born in Cleveland. Starting in the 1940s, she acted on Broadway, in movies and on television. She and her husband, Ossie Davis, acted together, were active in the civil rights movement and were friends with both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. During her career, she won a Grammy, Emmy, Screen Actors Guild Award and Kennedy Center Honor. In 2007, she became the second oldest woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie, American Gangster. She died in 2014.

October 27, 1954: Following in his father’s military footsteps, Benjamin O. Davis Jr. became the first African-American general in the U.S. Air Force. In 1943, he organized and commanded the unit of all African-American pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen, flying 60 combat missions, receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service. Five years later, he helped plan the desegregation of the Air Force. During the Korean War, he commanded a fighter wing. In 1998, President Bill Clinton promoted him to full general in honor of his service. He died in 2002.

October 28, 1798: Abolitionist Levi Coffin was born in North Carolina. His home in Newport, Indiana, became known as the “Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad.” The network of abolitionists and others helped thousands of African Americans find freedom.

October 28, 2009: President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The legislation provided additional penalties for those who commit violence based on sexual orientation, race, religion, gender, national origin, disability or gender identity.

October 29, 1869: Klansmen abducted and savagely beat Georgia legislator Abram Colby, leaving him for dead. Three years later, Colby, a member of the Georgia legislature, testified before a joint House and Senate committee investigating reports of Southern violence.

October 29, 1947: The Presidential Committee on Civil Rights recommended the creation of a civil rights division in the Department of Justice, a permanent national civil rights division, federal legislation to punish lynchings, secure voting rights and abolish segregation in interstate transportation.

October 29, 1968: In an 8-0 decision in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the immediate desegregation of 33 Mississippi school districts.

Contact Jerry Mitchell at (601) 961-7064 or jmitchell@gannett.com. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

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